Summer Is Back; Time to Hit the Beach

Summer may have ended a couple of days ago, but we never really got one, and it looks like our real summer may be ahead of us. If you are heading to the beaches west of Los Angeles this weekend, you’re in luck. First, you should check out the Summer of Color public art project. Billed as the largest public art project in the U.S., Summer of Color involves thousands of children and adults from local schools, hospitals, and social services programs, many of whom have physical and other challenges, who painted the lifeguard towers along the beach from Zuma to San Pedro. Each tower is different, but many of the designs incorporated flowers and geometric shapes for symbolic reasons (see the above link for more info). These towers were painted some time ago, but if you’re like me, you may not have checked them out up close. I did so recently in Marina del Rey, and was rewarded with the glorious sights pictured above (at Mother’s Beach in the Marina Harbor) and below.

N. Channel tower near Marina boat channel

This Saturday night, from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., the beach adjacent to the Santa Monica Pier will light up, as GLOW returns after a two-year hiatus. According to its website,

Glow is the only all-night art event in the United States that emphasizes the commissioning of original artwork. Glow projects invite active audience engagement and exploration and constantly surprise in their unexpected placement in spaces and times not normally reserved for fine art.

I covered the first Glow event in 2008, and found some first-time shortcomings. This year, however, a friend of mine is working there, and I’m looking forward to seeing the new and hopefully improved version.

On Sunday, a few blocks from the beach, the 26th annual Abbott Kinney Festival will take place along Abbott Kinney Blvd. in Venice, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The festival features live music, gourmet food trucks, handcrafted items for sale, beer gardens, valet stations for those arriving by bicycle, and much more. The festival is lots of fun, provided you do not mind very tightly packed crowds.